Fast and Furious Health Care Reform
Published in Sohu
(China) on 19 June 2009
by 单士兵 (link to original)
The U.S. is undergoing its more expansive public health care reform in 40 years. It will cost a lot of money and will involve so many interests in order to provide medical coverage to 46,000 uninsured Americans. While the schedule to discuss the medical reform is ready, the U.S. Congress will officially begin to discuss plans on the 17th, striving to complete the legislation before the middle of October and get it signed by President Obama.
This means that it will only take four months from debating the reform to the end of passing the relevant legislation.
There is a tough and complicated resistance to U.S. health care reform. For example, the Democratic and Republican parties, the government and various interest groups are arguing over specific content which intertwines all kinds of interests. They even oppose President Obama’s hope to increase the status and effect of the government on medical insurance and to create new government insurance plans. They believe that will kill the private insurance business. However, all resistance will not block the rapid process of reform and resistance will not tie up the public accountability of the government.
Common sense tells us that all reforms must have a main body of compromise that can diminish specific resistance. Otherwise, reforms will be endlessly tangled up and will ultimately waste a lot of public resources and will lack respect from the public.
Therefore, I can’t help thinking of the ongoing marathon that is Chinese health care reform, which has been going on for such a long time with little to show for it. Any reform that the U.S. can do to health care that gets a compromise from all related parties will be a good template for us.
This means that it will only take four months from debating the reform to the end of passing the relevant legislation.
There is a tough and complicated resistance to U.S. health care reform. For example, the Democratic and Republican parties, the government and various interest groups are arguing over specific content which intertwines all kinds of interests. They even oppose President Obama’s hope to increase the status and effect of the government on medical insurance and to create new government insurance plans. They believe that will kill the private insurance business. However, all resistance will not block the rapid process of reform and resistance will not tie up the public accountability of the government.
Common sense tells us that all reforms must have a main body of compromise that can diminish specific resistance. Otherwise, reforms will be endlessly tangled up and will ultimately waste a lot of public resources and will lack respect from the public.
Therefore, I can’t help thinking of the ongoing marathon that is Chinese health care reform, which has been going on for such a long time with little to show for it. Any reform that the U.S. can do to health care that gets a compromise from all related parties will be a good template for us.
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